President Xi Jinping declared that China has “entered a new era” on Wednesday as he opened a landmark Communist party congress that will cement his status as a transformative leader alongside Deng Xiaoping, who launched China’s historic economic reforms, and the party’s revolutionary hero Mao Zedong.

“China stands tall and firm in the east,” Mr Xi said in Beijing at the opening of the party’s 19th congress, which will mark the formal start of his second five-year term as party leader. The congress, attended by 2,300 delegates, will deliberate for one week before Mr Xi’s new party leadership team is revealed on October 24.

In a more than hour-long address also attended by his predecessors, Hu Jintao and Jiang Zemin, Mr Xi urged his party colleagues to “work tirelessly to realise the dream of national rejuvenation” and hailed the economic progress made during his administration’s first term.